Stephen Walton
We take thousands, literally like tens of thousands of photographs during our lifetime, thanks to mobile photography it’s so easy to fill up that memory card without blinking. So today we ask, ‘how do you find your best photograph?’
Let’s frame the conversation first, obviously, we are talking about ‘which is our best photograph that we’ve taken up to this point’.
We don’t know the future guys! Why is it important to know what your best photograph is? Well in truth, it isn’t, depending on who you are.
If photography is just a casual hobby for you but you could replace it in a heartbeat then, please check out some of our other blogs you may find more fun.
But if photography is as addictive as a flat-white-hot-mocha-chocca-latte-grande-sprinkle-expresso-creamy-coffee then you need to find out. (Can you tell I’ve never been to a Starbucks before?)
You need to find out to gauge your skills and progression as a photographer. Because you shouldn’t only do this self-assessment once, you should do it annually. Then every year you can compare you best photograph with last years and see how/if you are growing.
Therefore, let’s find out how to get to that number 1 spot. These are 5 steps for how to find your best photograph.
There’s a commonality about favourite things for humans. We always keep them close by. Precious items or important objects are never far from our reach, so when we translate that to a photograph then our hunt must begin on your phone.
Photographers are proud creatures and we love nothing more than getting praise on our efforts. Therefore, it’s possible you already have your bae saved in a favourites folder in your phone’s gallery.
It may be mixed with a few others but that’s cool, you’ll need the next clue to narrow it down further.
As the choices start to narrow, everyone looks like a potential suspect to be a favourite. So, prepare as we get a little deep for our next step. We spoke about how we keep favourite things close-by but there’s more than just proximity in how we react.
There should be a strong emotional reaction to a favourite picture. We aren’t just talking about looking at a picture of a fluffy cat and going ‘awwwww’, we are talking about real emotions.
You are looking for a picture that evokes a story, a memory of that moment. Can you remember the backstory to where you took the picture, why you took it, what you felt after seeing it on the screen? These are the feelings you need to tap in too.
You may think we’ve missed out on looking at technical details. Should we be assessing each potential on its sharpness, composition, content, exposure etc?
Well, you can if you want but we believe that is secondary to a strong connection.
Your favourite photograph will be one you will always love in 20, 30, 40 years to come. And when we say love, we mean love. You’ll still feel that connection in the future as you do now. Don’t get lost in the data of the picture, it should be about how you react.
Finally, we’ve got to be close to finding your favourite photograph now!? If you are down to just a couple of contenders, we need one more clue to figure out this mystery. Now bear with us as we explain this last line of investigation…
…image your phone is glitching like crazy and about to delete all your entire photo gallery, but you have the option to save one picture and one picture only. Which one is it? Which one could you not bear to lose?
Now like criminal mastermind lock that picture away (i.e. make a few digital copies and keep it safe somewhere).
Try this exercise out every 12 months and you can track your progress to see the changes in technical ability as well as strong emotional connections. There may be images in the past that don’t appeal to you as strongly.
But as you learn over time (and with the help of iPhotography) how to craft your image and spot opportunities more instinctively, the bond will grow.
After a few years, you’ll have a portfolio of precious memories that you would willingly shove in the face of any stranger inquiring about your photography skills – and rightly so!
We had a little investigation around the iPhotography studios and thought we’d share with you our tutor’s favourite images. Like we said don’t suppose they will always be the most technically sound pictures, but they are ones that are close to our hearts.
Now you’ve seen ours, show us yours. Use the 5 simple steps to discover your favourite photograph and upload them to the iPhotography gallery so we can share out some of the best stories.
YOUR photographs are what WE are driven by, so we love to get a snapshot of everyone’s current ability so we can help you on the next step.
Stephen brings many years of photographic experience with him to his role as content and course creator. After leaving art school he went straight into studio photography working alongside Photo Corp UK, before running one of the UK’s most successful high-end portrait studios with Venture Studios for over a decade.
His personal work which stretches from portraits to landscapes, and other niches in between could be described as atmospheric and low key – sounds moody, but he’s not really! He’s previously had work published by Adobe Photoshop on top of many industry awards for his portrait photography.
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